Apple will release updates for its Mac Pro and Mac mini desktops in August, adding Intel's latest generation Sandy Bridge processors and the new high-speed Thunderbolt port, according to a new rumor.

Brian Tong of CNet wrote on his official Twitter account on Sunday that "all new" next-generation Mac Pros and Mac Minis will launch "either end of July (or) first week of August."

He then followed up with a second post, in which he said that August is "more likely." He also suggested that Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt would appear on both machines, as expected, though he added that "no details for specs or configurations were given."

Tong in March correctly pointed to the launch of new iMacs, also with Thunderbolt ports and Sandy Bridge processors. He said the updated all-in-one desktops would arrive by early May, and they went on sale right on schedule.

The Mac Pro was last updated in late July of 2010. The tower was upgraded to 12 processing cores with Intel Xeon processors, making them up to 50 percent faster than their predecessors.

Just a month before, a redesigned Mac mini was released in June adding an HDMI port for easy connectivity to a high-definition television. The Mac mini also sports a built-in SD card slot for grabbing photos and videos from a digital camera, all in a size just 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thin starting at $699.

The MacBook Air is also expected to receive an upgrade in the near future to be outfitted with Sandy Bridge processors and a Thunderbolt port. Last week, AppleInsider exclusively reported that Apple is expected to hold off on releasing any new Mac hardware until its next-generation operating system, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, goes on sale in July.

My current Mac Pro is great at a lot of things, but the 667 MHz Bus and Memory are killing me. It's also unable to boot into the 64-bit kernel, though it handles all the 64-bit apps well. My 30" Cinema Display is still going strong and I see no sense in replacing it. That all said, this new Mac Pro might just entice me to upgrade. I just don't know if I'm willing to part with that kind of money for a computer that I only use at home. I never thought I'd get to the point where my current Mac was actually good enough to handle everything I needed without being slow. There's no way I'd ever downgrade to a Mac Mini, and the iMac includes a screen when I already have the 30". I'm stuck.

Of course since I'm wishing here I might as well add a pony to the list ... :-)

I'd love that too, but the actual specs will likely be

1) Core i7 (mobile version)
2) 4GB RAM (upgradeable to 8GB)
3) TB and USB 2.0 (No USB 3.0 support until Ivy Bridge, which I don't believe will be out by then, but shouldn't matter since you can plug a USB 3.0 hub into the Thunderbolt port if you need USB 3.0)
4) Only gonna get the HD 3000 that comes with the i7. The Mini doesn't have the thermal design to handle a dedicated GPU. If Apple added a Mini with any kind of GPU comparable to the iMac I would jump on it in a heartbeat, but unless Apple makes the Mini bigger so it can handle the heat (which Jobs will never allow), then we're out of luck.

Last week, AppleInsider exclusively reported that Apple is expected to hold off on releasing any new Mac hardware until its next-generation operating system, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, goes on sale in July.

Do you know what it means to "exclusively report"? It means that you are the only one reporting that. This information was widely reported, so obviously it does not fit the "exclusive" category. AI has put this in many articles lately and it is getting a little old. That is my exclusive comment on this matter.

About the updates - these would be welcome updates. I would like to consider the purchase of a mini, but I am not sure it has hit the right price point for what I need. Although coupling it with Lion and the server add-ons would make for a great little system.

I never thought I'd get to the point where my current Mac was actually good enough to handle everything I needed without being slow. There's no way I'd ever downgrade to a Mac Mini, and the iMac includes a screen when I already have the 30". I'm stuck.

I'm stuck, much in the same way you are - though it's not that bad place to be in (I do have a Nahalem Pro - my memory speed isn't quite that slow)

I just popped a GTX 470 in (literally less than an hour ago) - flashed to be Mac compatible. Aperture flies - but more importantly, Civilization V doesn't bog down - especially when booted into Windows 7. I think I'm good for another couple of years. If I spend any more money on upgrades it will be for another, bigger SSD - I'm still hard drive I/O bound and the 120GB SSD I have now isn't big enough. I'm hoping the card based SSD's that can use the larger, cheaper flash chips keep coming down in price - especially since I have the space inside the big 'ol tower

I hope they don't decide that the Mac Pro needs a splash of black plastic to match the rest of the line. I for one think that we were sorely robbed of amazing looking laptops when Apple decided to pair its awesome case designs with black keyboards, rubber and screen bezels. Can you imagine how amazing those things would look if it was ALL silver like the old PowerBook G4?

Mac Pro is the only machine remaining that hasn't been tainted by this new design strategy.

I hope they don't decide that the Mac Pro needs a splash of black plastic to match the rest of the line. I for one think that we were sorely robbed of amazing looking laptops when Apple decided to pair its awesome case designs with black keyboards, rubber and screen bezels. Can you imagine how amazing those things would look if it was ALL silver like the old PowerBook G4?

Mac Pro is the only machine remaining that hasn't been tainted by this new design strategy.

Interesting criticism. While I understand what you're saying about the black trim on the current MacBook/iMac line, I don't agree. I like the black bezel around my MacBook, and I like the black keys, though I wish backlit keyboards were standard, and not only on select models.

I DO agree with you on the Mac Pro comment. I think it's a fine design as it is, and doesn't need any black trim. It's a testament to Apple's sense of industrial design that the Mac Pro case is nearly 10 years old. I'd say THE best designed an engineered tower ever.

I definitely can't afford a Mac Pro tower, but I DO have my eye on a new Mini Lion Server. I think that will be perfect for my needs.

I hope they don't decide that the Mac Pro needs a splash of black plastic to match the rest of the line. I for one think that we were sorely robbed of amazing looking laptops when Apple decided to pair its awesome case designs with black keyboards, rubber and screen bezels. Can you imagine how amazing those things would look if it was ALL silver like the old PowerBook G4?

Mac Pro is the only machine remaining that hasn't been tainted by this new design strategy.

On the other hand, I think that 100% black is nice. I like the look of my black macbook. This doesn't really matter much to me, since I'm not looking to get one, but it would be cool if Apple made the mini 100% black, just like they did with Apple TV. And I agree with you on one point, I also never did like the look of those 50/50 Apple laptops, which featured unmatched colors. They should keep it simple, all one color.

I'm stuck, much in the same way you are - though it's not that bad place to be in (I do have a Nahalem Pro - my memory speed isn't quite that slow)

I just popped a GTX 470 in (literally less than an hour ago) - flashed to be Mac compatible. Aperture flies - but more importantly, Civilization V doesn't bog down - especially when booted into Windows 7. I think I'm good for another couple of years. If I spend any more money on upgrades it will be for another, bigger SSD - I'm still hard drive I/O bound and the 120GB SSD I have now isn't big enough. I'm hoping the card based SSD's that can use the larger, cheaper flash chips keep coming down in price - especially since I have the space inside the big 'ol tower

I basically broke my data up into the different drives. Bay 1 is for the OS and the apps and such, but none of the data. Bay 2 is all photos. Ever since I switched over to a D-90 I've been consuming so much hard drive space that it made sense to have a drive just for iPhoto / Aperture. Bay 3 is raw HD Video. I don't mess around with FCP, I just use iMovie and I'm happy with it. I shoot 1080p though, so it needs elbow room. iMovie saves to this drive. Bay 4 is everything else. My documents folder is here and I save various projects I'm working on here.

Everything is backed up on an external 8TB FW800 drive, also from OWC.

This setup probably isn't ideal for a lot of people on here, but it works for me. I'd love to have 12 cores to chew through my HD photos and video, but the cost of a new Mac Pro is quite painful when I don't "need" a new Mac Pro. Even with a 667 MHz bus, it's damn zippy with that SSD. I'm stuck with what I have until I can pile together another $8k for a new Mac Pro.

My current Mac Pro is great at a lot of things, but the 667 MHz Bus and Memory are killing me. It's also unable to boot into the 64-bit kernel, though it handles all the 64-bit apps well. My 30" Cinema Display is still going strong and I see no sense in replacing it. That all said, this new Mac Pro might just entice me to upgrade. I just don't know if I'm willing to part with that kind of money for a computer that I only use at home. I never thought I'd get to the point where my current Mac was actually good enough to handle everything I needed without being slow. There's no way I'd ever downgrade to a Mac Mini, and the iMac includes a screen when I already have the 30". I'm stuck.

The memory bus is not the problem. Using 1333mhz or faster memory only gives you between 5-8% more performance. Especially since you have Fully Buffered memory. If you use 4 modules/8 moduels the memory is interleaving and makes up almost for the dual/triple channel Dram in newer MacPros.

If your Mac is slow. Start activity monitor. Majority of the cases I have seen with slow macs are hanging Flash processes and I/O problems.

One major problem with Macpro + Raided file system. When your disks are more then 80% full I/O can get crazy. I have seen 3000-4000 I/O per sec when that happens. An ordinary disk manage about 100 I/Os.

Theoretically - Thunderbolt is just a cable connecting a PCI bus right?

I mean... they could release a TINY MacPro, with an external box for expansion. The external box could plug into the new tiny MacPro, or the iMac, or the MacMini - giving any of them a chassis for addition of hard disks, other PCI cards (including high end graphics).

I doubt they're thinking that way... so I'm just asking if this is possible.

Apple will release updates for its Mac Pro and Mac mini desktops in August, adding Intel's latest generation Sandy Bridge processors and the new high-speed Thunderbolt port, according to a new rumor.

The E7 series Xeon is too expensive and the E3 series is too slow (E3-1260L would work great in a Mini though). This leaves either the 5000-series or the upcoming E5 series due in October (which they may get early access to). There doesn't seem to be anything to replace the entry quad though.

There's nothing to replace the E5620 but they could use the following that came out in Q1 '11:
E5649 2.53GHz 6c/12t 90W = $774
X5675 3.06GHz 6c/12t 95W = $1440

This could bring the 12-core $4999 model down to $4499 so that the pricing is $2499, $3499, $4499. This isn't Sandy Bridge though, which arrives in October.

I guess the current Westmere chips get dropped down to the $2499 and $2999 models and replace Nehalem but this means going from a quad 2.8GHz Nehalem to a quad 2.4GHz Westmere.

If it was the intention to do this, Thunderbolt and Lion must have been the delaying factors or possibly a new chassis design. There needs to be PCI 3.0 in this one too. It'll be interesting to see how they integrate the TB ports on the MP when it uses PCI GPUs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph L

I want to see the Mac Mini with nothing. Nothing but a Thunderbolt port.

I'd say two Thunderbolt ports. HDMI can be achieved with a Mini-DP -> HDMI adaptor leaving a TB port free for storage or some external MXM graphics card that NVidia/AMD ought to be making.

The Mac Mini can come as soon as Lion arrives as well as the Pro if they use the above processors. The MBA, not until the new Toshiba NAND but that could be July too.

I mean... they could release a TINY MacPro, with an external box for expansion. The external box could plug into the new tiny MacPro, or the iMac, or the MacMini - giving any of them a chassis for addition of hard disks, other PCI cards (including high end graphics).

Apple certainly never... EVER... will.

But some other PC manufacturer? It's marketing GOLD. Why sell people an entire computer when you can force them to buy everything separately? And it makes upgrades a cinch.

It's funny that this rumor came out today, for I was just discussing with my better half about how I'd like to upgrade from my 5+ year old Core Duo-powered MacBook to a Core 2 Duo or better product that would allow me to stay current with the upcoming Lion. I have an even older Mac mini (the original) that is pulling light duty as a "guest room" computer, and that worked pretty well for my needs back in the day. If Apple is indeed coming out with an Intel i3/5/7 CPU refresh for the Mac mini in August, I may take them up on it if the price is right!

I'm still disappointed that there's not an entry level tower. It's pretty much the gimp Mac Mini or the iMac + screen which I don't favor.

If the refreshed Mac Mini specs are decent though I'll consider it.

I know what you're saying but consider that if Apple could pull off a surprise or two, the Mini form factor could yield a device closer to the bang for the buck sort of device many of us would love to see.

Just speculating but imagine what would happen if by switching the Mini to a solidstate drive, Apple could engineer in more ability to handle heat. If the additional space and better heat-handling meant being able to use a discrete GPU, that's a whole new ball game.

Lightning fast drive performance and decent graphics. Surely that addresses the biggest complaints levelled against the current Mini. Sure going this route would mean less internal drive space at a given price point but if most current Mini owners are like me they already have tons of external drive space as part of their set-up. I have a 3TB drive hooked up via Firewire 800. I'm using that external to run my OS to avoid running it off the 5,400 RPM internal. Set up that way, even 128GB of internal memory would get the job done. Store the rest externally and also take advantage of Apple's soon-to-arrive iCloud service. If Apple wanted to really be adventurous, they might try offering the Mini in base configuration without an optical drive, something that, like more storage, is easy to add externally.

Yep, I wouldn't expect Apple to release a new Mac Pro until the Sandy Bridge-E chips are available. The non-E ones do not compare to the level normally used. To use current non-E Sandy Bridge would be a downgrade. Sandy Bridge-E not due til Q4 as Marvin said.

With Apple's current direction, I'm wondering if the Mac Pro and Mac mini will lose their optical drives in these updates. Certainly the optical drive is an endangered species.

There's no reason to lose an optical drive in machines that don't go anywhere. There's plenty of reasons to still include optical drives. And while I know I'm in the minority, I'm not even happy that (if the rumors are correct) they'll be removed from the MacBook Pro line - I still need that drive, although I don't necessarily need it outside of the house. But at least there's a strong reason to remove it from laptops: it will make them a bit lighter and potentially thinner and/or give it more room for the battery, etc. The MacPro is in a gigantic case. How is making it any smaller going to make it a better machine? Besides, I don't think they're going to change the case anyway and DVD-R drives cost about $30 retail - I bet Apple is paying only about $12-$15 for them.

Removing the optical drive would be Jobs dictating that we can't use optical media anymore. I would resent that. There are still people who prefer the quality/content of DVD (and of course BD, but he's NEVER going to allow us to have that.) This is the one side of Apple that I've never liked - their arrogance and the emphasis of convenience over quality. Apple's video downloads don't come close to BD quality.

Removing the optical drive would be Jobs dictating that we can't use optical media anymore. I would resent that. There are still people who prefer the quality/content of DVD (and of course BD, but he's NEVER going to allow us to have that.) This is the one side of Apple that I've never liked - their arrogance and the emphasis of convenience over quality. Apple's video downloads don't come close to BD quality.

You're coming it from the angle. You assume that Apple's exclusion of Blu-ray in Macs means they are arrogantly ignoring the benefits of Blu-ray over DVD or digital downloads. This isn't Bill Gates house where Apple products aren't allowed; I bet most of Apple's their higher-ups have Blu-ray players in their home theater where it belongs, not sitting in a 13" MBP, the size and type machine they reportedly sell the most. I'll even go farther and say that Jobs and kids watch Pixar movies in Blu-ray at their home on some big display not made by Apple, not huddled around a 27" iMac watching iTunes Store 720p media.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

I hope that they drop the legacy HDMI port now that they have Thunderbolt. In fact, they could drop all the ports except Thunderbolt, because that is now all that is needed. The rest are like floppy Disks.

sill need USB for stuff like keyboards and mouse and you will need like 3-4 TB ports or a mess of hubs to go all TB. Also still need sound out analog / digital / TOSLINK.

The E7 series Xeon is too expensive and the E3 series is too slow (E3-1260L would work great in a Mini though). This leaves either the 5000-series or the upcoming E5 series due in October (which they may get early access to). There doesn't seem to be anything to replace the entry quad though.

There's nothing to replace the E5620 but they could use the following that came out in Q1 '11:
E5649 2.53GHz 6c/12t 90W = $774
X5675 3.06GHz 6c/12t 95W = $1440

This could bring the 12-core $4999 model down to $4499 so that the pricing is $2499, $3499, $4499. This isn't Sandy Bridge though, which arrives in October.

I guess the current Westmere chips get dropped down to the $2499 and $2999 models and replace Nehalem but this means going from a quad 2.8GHz Nehalem to a quad 2.4GHz Westmere.

If it was the intention to do this, Thunderbolt and Lion must have been the delaying factors or possibly a new chassis design. There needs to be PCI 3.0 in this one too. It'll be interesting to see how they integrate the TB ports on the MP when it uses PCI GPUs.

I'd say two Thunderbolt ports. HDMI can be achieved with a Mini-DP -> HDMI adaptor leaving a TB port free for storage or some external MXM graphics card that NVidia/AMD ought to be making.

The Mac Mini can come as soon as Lion arrives as well as the Pro if they use the above processors. The MBA, not until the new Toshiba NAND but that could be July too.

better to put some kind of video card on the unused pci-e x8-12 lanes that will go unused with TB ports maybe if they feed the TB chip with all X16 lanes so 3-4 TB ports can get there max use as having a TB video card can eat up the X4 pci-e lanes to the TB chip on it's own and still be not at it's max.